Main menu

Gut Reaction: Mets 5 Phillies 2 (4/18/16)

This one was just like Sandy Alderson and Terry Collins drew it up: power hitting and power arms.

The Mets stroked four home runs — two of them by David Wright, his first home runs and RBIs of the year — in support of another masterful start by Noah Syndergaard. The one they call “Thor” is appearing more and more godlike as the season progresses. Tonight, he pitched seven innings, surrendering five hits, walking two, striking out eight and allowing one earned run. Surprisingly, his main weapon tonight wasn’t the hammer, but the changeup, which made Philly hitters look like they were being manipulated by a screwdriver. The offense was almost gravy. Besides Wright’s bookend homers into the right field seats, Lucas Duda registered his first Duda smash of the season, followed up by a Neil Walker smash three pitches later.

For his part, Phillies righthander Jarad Eickhoff was able to keep pace with Syndergaard most of the night. He struck out nine Mets in his seven innings, but David Lough just missed a diving grab on what became a Duda double for a tie breaking RBI in the sixth, following a Yoenis Cespedes triple with two outs.

All it takes is a visit to Philadelphia to make a plan look good. Logan Verrett faces Vincent Velasquez in game two of this series tomorrow night.

6 comments for “Gut Reaction: Mets 5 Phillies 2 (4/18/16)”

Mets have now won four of the last five and have outscored their opponents 24-15. That was after scoring 18 runs in their first seven games.

Phillies are a dismal offensive team but they’ve got two good pitchers in Eickhoff and Velasquez and the Mets face them back-to-back. Hopefully they can be the first team to score against Velasquez this season.

Everything was great tonight, but I’m really starting to worry about Plawecki. Either he needs seasoning at AAA or he is the next Charlie O’Brien. I would send him down and see if he can develop. If TDA isn’t hurt, just bring up Rivera and let this kid stay at AAA all year.

Syndrgaard was great and Bastardo had a strong 8th. The team is built on the long ball and once again it was produced.
Bastardo pitched the 8th inning in a hold situation. Is he the new 8th inning reliever? Reed was used the previous day in a non hold situation where Bastardo should have been used. As a fan, I am confused about the roles of the bullpen personell. I think Reed is the better 8th inning guy and has done nothing wrong to lose that role.
It was a shame to waste Familia in a non save situation in the ninth but the two out Wright homer didn’t allow time for another relief pitcher to get ready. These things happen.

Nobody has been more pessimistic about David Wright than I’ve been, and so far, I look like an idiot.

A happy, grinning idiot.

We are seeing — so far — the best possible scenario. Times in the field when he wobbles, times when he’ll struggle; but also, other times, when he’s solid ballplayer and a dangerous bat.

One statistic that I’d like to see down the road is how he fares on the first game back after a day off.

My general feeling is that TC tends to wait for a guy to be gassed, rather than using the off days to keep that player fresh. To me, Granderson needs a blow. Don’t wait for a player to look exhausted and slow; use regular rest as an approach to keeping players fresh and productive across a long season.

And, oh yes, big matchup tonight, in what appears to be a pitching mismatch. It would be something to pull out a win.

On Wright, I knew the narrative would center around hitting in Philly. And all of that is true. But I also hope a lesson is that rest can do a man good.

The tough part is that if we give David time off from the tough assignments — a good thing, IMO — then we are making it very hard on Wilmer. Which is why I wished that the team paired him with a LH bat. I wasn’t sure if Kelly Johnson could capably play 3B, but something along those lines.